Libations: Getting our Footing

The work on our driveway widening project continues. It is taking longer than I expect, but I don't really think my initial expectations were realistic. Since starting the actual work after a big break between getting the side sewer hooked up to the new water main, our contractor has finished the digging, demolished the old wall, built the forms, and poured the concrete footing for the new retaining wall. Another surprise was the minimal reinforcement on the old wall; it had no footing or foundation whatsoever, and only some small rebar connections to our house foundation. It had held up well over the decades (built in 1962), so I anticipate that the new wall will be here far longer than we will. Now that the forms for the new wall are in place, I can really picture how much space we will gain. So exciting!

Formed and ready. The orange tint is from wildfire smoke.

Filling the forms with concrete.

A long view from the side door of the whole footing.

Waiting for the cement mixer to back up.

The finished (cured) footing with the wall rebar in place.

The wildfire smoke has really impacted the air quality here. We have stopped going outside for non-essentials like walks and hikes. It makes to sense to me to go for a walk for my health when breathing this air is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. No thanks. Unfortunately for the workers building our new wall, they don't have a choice. We did manage a last walk at Point Defiance on the first day of increasingly smokey air. My birthday is on September 7th, which was Labor Day this year. We enjoyed a socially distanced outdoor potluck with five friends at the home of three of the friends. My mom made a cake and we had take out from the Red Hot to celebrate on the Sunday before, too.

The last walk at Point Defiance. This mushroom lit up with the orange haze.

Sunset at Tillicum Beach Marina with wildfire color.

Sunset on the Tacoma Tideflats access road.

My mom made me a birthday cake.

One of our neighbors put out boxes of plums from their tree free for the taking, so I took one box over to my mom's house and we made jam. It made two batches of jam, four cobblers, and a load of prunes using my dehydrator. I was pleased with how the jam turned out. These plums were sweet with just a touch of tartness, perfect for jam. We did have to scrounge for the jars this year. There were no new jars to be found anywhere in the stores; canning must be popular during the pandemic.

Plum lovin'

Cooking the jam.

Plum tired.

More food pictures. I still enjoy cooking... another surprise. I've also been processing the in-season produce for our winter menu. Eating seasonally has worked well for us, but I'm not rigorous about it in the winter and early spring months. I use our freezer, dehydrator, and canning to give us a bit more variety than just storage vegetables in the winter. We tend to eat more beans, too. Our apple tree is producing less fruit this year, but I still got a load of apples dehydrated. I like to use the dried apples to make granola. The cinnamon-apple version is Russ' favorite on yogurt for breakfast.